Chapter 126 (1): Fang Che's Spear

Yang Luoyu eagerly accepted this arrangement.

Not only was this a chance for him to deepen his bond with Bu Chou, it also presented him with a learning opportunity.

Bu Chou was ranked far higher than him on the Cloud Weapon Archive, so he would surely be able to learn a great deal from the superior warrior.

"Thank you, Master Nine."

Yang Luoyu promptly departed, and Dongfang Sansan was right about to return to his work when Xue Fuxiao returned, looking rather glum.

"Duan Xiyang didn't go to the southeast, so I essentially went all that way just to drop off Fang Che's wedding gifts," Xue Fuxiao grumbled.

Dongfang Sansan gave a displeased harrumph, unhappy with how long it had taken Xue Fuxiao to complete his gift delivery assignment.

"I can't trust you with anything!" he complained. "I told you to go kill Flame Demon last time, but he ended up surviving, didn't he?"

"I already explained this to you! Duan Xiyang was clearly under orders to save Flame Demon at all costs, so there was nothing I could do! Besides, I came very close to hacking him to death, so it's going to take a long time for him to recover. By the way, I heard that Yan Nan sent someone to deliver a letter to you, is that right?"

At the time of Jiang Wuwang's visit, Xue Fuxiao had only just returned to the Guardian headquarters and been busy with some official matters, and he had only heard about what happened after the event.

"That's right," Dongfang Sansan confirmed with a pleased smile. "Yan Nan sent someone to deliver me a letter, agreeing to my proposal."

"You seem to be very pleased about that," Xue Fuxiao remarked. "Did something happen?"

"Take a look for yourself," Dongfang Sansan said with a faint smile as he handed Yan Nan's letter to Xue Fuxiao.

"Friendly matches between the younger generation? What's that all about?" Xue Fuxiao exclaimed as he read through the letter. "There's no friendship between us and the Church of the Self-Righteous! Hold on, you were the one who proposed this? Why?"

"I have my reasons," Dongfang Sansan replied. "At the moment, we have a very good grasp on all of the most accomplished warriors of the Church of the Self-Righteous, including even the generation after Duan Xiyang's, but do you remember what you said about the likes of Jiang Wuwang and Bei Mingxin in the past?"

"What did I say? I don't remember anymore."

"You said that they're not worthy of our concern, yet look at them now. All of them have become very powerful and influential figures in the various departments of the Church of the Self-Righteous. Right now, they're the ones mostly running the show, while our old rivals are rarely even seen anymore. In contrast, we're still having to personally fight on the front lines and do everything ourselves."

Xue Fuxiao fell silent at this sobering reality.

"That's because we're worried that Yang Luoyu, Dong Changfeng and the others will get killed if they go up against the likes of Duan Xiyang. It's really bad for their development that we're constantly watching over them like this, but it can't be helped because we can't afford to lose them! Out of the generation below Duan Xiyang's in the Church of the Self-Righteous, we have on record 127 warriors worthy of a place in the top hundred in the Cloud Weapon Archive.

“However, only around a dozen have actually appeared on the Cloud Weapon Archive, while the rest have disappeared into the main church's various departments, and these people are rapidly growing stronger every single year."

"What about the warriors on our side in the same time period?" Xue Fuxiao asked.

"We've only had 37 such warriors compared with the 127 from the Church of the Self-Righteous, and 25 of them have entered the Cloud Weapon Archive."

"There's no way there's such a huge difference!" Xue Fuxiao exclaimed.

"If you don't believe me, then think about it for yourself. I'm not talking about the generation that contains the likes of Duan Xiyang, Flame Demon, and Bai Zhandao, I'm only talking about the middle generation. Over the past few thousand years, we've had ninety fewer warriors worthy of a spot in the top one hundred in the Cloud Weapon Archive compared with the enemy!

“Do you understand what that entails? The reason why I established the Cloud Weapon Archive in the first place is because it benefits us more than them. They constantly have more powerful warriors emerging among their ranks than we do, and thus, the Cloud Weapon Archive will expose more of their top warriors to us than the other way around.

“However, the Church of the Self-Righteous has since come to realize this, and they've simply begun instructing their warriors not to put their names forward."

"You've already screwed them over for over ten thousand years with all of your different lists, is that still not enough?" Xue Fuxiao scoffed with a roll of his eyes. "If you ask me, it's a minor miracle that it took them so long to realize what you were doing with the Cloud Weapon Archive!"

"I'm sure they already figured it out long ago, they just played along because they didn't want to be outmatched," Dongfang Sansan said. "The fact that they're no longer bothering to keep up appearances means that a new generation is beginning to take the reins as decision-makers, and that's a very bad sign for us.

“Their younger generation isn't as worried about things like reputation, which means they'll be even more reckless and brazen, so there's definitely going to be more trouble to come."

"What does this have to do with the friendly matches that you proposed?"

"I knew you were going to ask that," Dongfang Sansan sighed with a disdainful expression, as if he were regarding a mentally handicapped fool.

"Why're you looking at me like that? Is this not a question I should be asking?"

"I suppose it's a question you should be asking. With your intelligence, you'll never be able to think of the answer if you don't ask me."

Xue Fuxiao had half a mind to storm out of the office in a fit of indignation, but ultimately, his curiosity got the better of him as he urged, "Fine! Explain it to me then!"

"I proposed these friendly matches because we don't have much data on the current generation of young prodigies in the Church of the Self-Righteous, especially because everyone was made to appear very mediocre due to Night Demon's dominant performance.

“With the information that we currently have on hand, it's impossible for me to tell which of the main church's young prodigies pose the most potent threat to us, and that's very dangerous because it means our future enemies are able to lurk in the shadows. Hence, we must lure them out somehow, and this is what I came up with.

“There's no way the Church of the Self-Righteous could turn down this proposal, and that plays right into my hands."

"What about those above the Emperor tier?"

"You're talking about people like Feng Yun, Wu Di, and Bai Ye? We already have plenty of information on them, so they don't pose too much of a concern for the moment. Every single generation, it seems like the Church of the Self-Righteous is able to produce far more bright talents than we do, so from now on, we have to be extra meticulous in keeping records of their young prodigies.

“Otherwise, we'll be caught off guard once those people grow to their full potential. Yan Nan will definitely have been very skeptical of my proposal, and I'm sure he's been racking his brains, trying to figure out my objective."

"But little does he know that your objective is simply to see their young prodigies, just as you openly stated in your letter! Ha! That's brilliant!"

"Of course that's not true!" Dongfang Sansan scoffed with a roll of his eyes. "I do have other objectives, and I'm sure he's already figured those out, but I'm also certain that he's arrived at the incorrect conclusion."

Xue Fuxiao: "......"

Why does it feel like we're never on the same wavelength when we're talking to each other?

"My main objective is, just as I stated, to get a better grasp on the young prodigies of the main church so I can better target them in the future, but I also have a secondary objective, which is to make the deputy popes more aware of Night Demon."

"And your third objective is to pick out a few enemy prodigies that we can kill with minimal consequences and kill them, right?" Xue Fuxiao asked in a confident manner.

"I have no third objective."

Xue Fuxiao: "......"

After a long, enraged silence, Xue Fuxiao snapped, "I'm done talking to you!"

With that, he turned and stormed out of the room, slamming the door shut behind him.

***

Yin Shengong gathered five of the One Heart Church's most powerful warriors, and they prepared to set off for the Mountain Moving Sect. Night Demon had already killed those two Mountain Moving Sect disciples, and there was surely going to be trouble to follow, so an immediate visit was required to address this matter.

Otherwise, there was a very good chance that the all-important branch helm would be targeted, and that would result in catastrophic consequences.

However, on the way there, they were attacked.

𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

They had only just made it out of the One Heart Church headquarters and were passing by a shadowy forest when a streak of cold light abruptly came hurtling toward them, killing an eighth-rank Sovereign tier elder on the spot.

Yin Shengong let loose a furious roar as he unleashed his Seven Blood Spirit Swords in retaliation, but the culprit had already raced back into the shadows.

"Hai Wuliang! Come out and face me!"

The other four elders had also lashed out in unison, but Hai Wuliang was simply too fast for their attacks to land, and he didn't linger after killing that first elder, choosing instead to rush back into the cover of the forest.

"I've come for retribution, Yin Shengong!" Hai Wuliang's cold and sinister voice rang out, but he was constantly darting from place to place as he spoke, so it sounded as if his voice were coming from multiple different directions at once, thereby making it impossible to ascertain his precise location.

It seemed that instead of fleeing for his life, Hai Wuliang had been lingering near the One Heart Church headquarters this entire time.

"Come out, Hai Wuliang. Let's talk," Yin Shengong yelled with a dark expression.

"I have nothing to talk about with you!"

Once again, his voice seemed to have been coming from everywhere at once, but the fact that he had immediately responded to Yin Shengong indicated that he wasn't far away.